As tributes poured in after Sen. Ted Kennedy’s death, his political allies yesterday laid plans to harness the Massachusetts icon’s legacy as the “liberal lion” of the Senate and reinvigorate his lifelong cause of health-care reform.

After a month when President Obama’s health plans came under heavy attack at town-hall meetings, Democrats sought to use the death of the 77-year-old Kennedy from brain cancer as a powerful motivating force for an overhaul, just as brother John F. Kennedy’s assassination aided the drive for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” vowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, “As we mourn his loss, we rededicate ourselves to the causes for which he so dutifully dedicated his life.”

But with Kennedy gone, Democrats now lack a critical 60th vote on procedural motions for several months, because Massachusetts law calls for a delay of 145 days before a special election can be held to fill a vacant Senate seat.

That would make it even harder to overcome Republican opposition to the issue Kennedy called “the cause of my life.”

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), a close Kennedy friend and one of only two men to serve longer than him in the chamber, said, “In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name-calling and have a civilized debate on health-care reform.”

Byrd, 91, added that a health-care law should “bear [Kennedy’s] name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.”

Condolences for Kennedy came from across the political spectrum yesterday as presidents, fellow members of Congress, neighbors and former drinking buddies heralded his outsized personality and enormous political legacy.

“For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was a defender of a dream,” said Obama in Martha’s Vineyard. He is vacationing near the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, where the senator died.

“For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts,” the president added.

“Our country has lost a great leader who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time.”

Many saluted Kennedy for his compassion for the downtrodden and his loyalty to friends, as well as his ability to reach across the aisle to make deals with Republicans despite being anathema to many conservatives and the subject of countless GOP fund-raising appeals.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a conservative Republican from Utah who nevertheless worked with Kennedy to reach compromises on key health legislation, called him a “treasured friend.”

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan singled out his collaborative work on stem-cell research.

“The country has lost a favorite son,” said Vince Wolfington, a Hyannis Port friend. “The US Senate has lost an icon. The family has lost a patriot. His friends have lost a good Samaritan.”

Sen. John Kerry, Kennedy’s fellow Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said after spending time with the family of his longtime colleague that “a very spiritual” vigil is taking place.

Neighbor Dudley Thomas, 72, said Kennedy “was an avid sailor and a good sailor . . . He was always the first boat out and the last boat in every season.”

Kennedy’s body will be driven by motorcade today to the John F. Kennedy Library in Cambridge, Mass., where it will lie in state until tomorrow. A private service will also be held there.

The funeral will be held Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Basilica in Boston, where President Obama will deliver a eulogy. Kennedy’s body will then be flown to Virginia for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, are buried there at a site marked by an eternal flame. Brother Robert Kennedy is buried nearby.

Ted Kennedy’s long life and 46 years in the Senate traced many of the great legislative achievements and tragedies of his era.

Born in 1932, the youngest of nine children, he was schooled in politics at the family dinner table as his father, Joe Kennedy, helped plot political ambitions for Ted’s older brothers.

As a freshman at Harvard, he got busted getting a classmate to take a Spanish test for him, then joined the Army, only to return to Harvard later and the University of Virginia for law school.

He helped run brother John’s Senate re-election campaign. After JFK won the presidency in 1960, Ted was elected to JFK’s Massachusetts Senate seat in 1962 after reaching the required age of 30.

He was badly hurt in a plane crash in 1964 and broke his back, causing him pain for the rest of his life.

A cloud had hung over him since July 18, 1969, when he drove his car off the bridge at Chappaquiddick, and failed to immediately notify police about the death of companion Mary Jo Kopechne, who drowned.

The accident set back his presidential ambitions, though he challenged President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980, vowing in an idealistic convention speech: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

With his presidential ambitions behind him, Kennedy racked up a series of legislative achievements, helping push through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and bills extending prescription drugs to seniors, health coverage for low-income children, and apartheid sanctions on South Africa.

Last year, he spoke for Obama’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, declaring that “the torch will be passed again.”